Couple more things checked off the to do list

I cleaned my sewing area yesterday in preparation for finishing a couple projects today.

Last year BlueBird Quilts put up a quilting challenge. She would send a few of us a set of 5 hexagon style blocks and we would then turn them into a small quilt.

My blocks were mainly black and white. At first I thought about making flowers out of the hexagons but once I had them in my home I knew flowers wouldn't work. If they had been more colorful then they would have been fine. They have been sitting in my hexagon drawer for several months waiting to be turned into something spectacular. I don't think they became "spectacular" but they have been saved from the trash and will have a useful and purposeful life now.

I've  been wanting to try my hand at Dresden plates and thought they might work nicely for this project. My first instinct was to have the plates alternate with the hexagons. Then I reread the rules and saw that the quilts are to be under 27". Not going to work. Then I had the idea of using the hexagons as the center circle of the Dresden plates. When I was laying out the half plates I liked how they looked (see the corner blocks).

Today I sewed all the pieces on and quilted it. Add some nice red binding and it is ready to be loved.

As you can see I'm not very good at spacing. I took a whole piece of grey fabric and folded, measured, pinned, remeasured trying to get the pieces evenly spaced. Didn't happen. I'm OK with that though. This will be a fun little quilt to toss around and use top build forts. To cover up with in the car or on the couch. In other words...it will be used.

Since the front is so dark I decided the back needed to have some color to it. I used the same fabric for the binding.  I failed the size requirement. It measures 27" X 42".

Now for something brighter. Our neighbor is waiting (im)patiently for her new Granddaughter to make her entrance into the world. She should only have a couple more weeks to wait if the baby girl decides to show up on time. I made this quilt last month but never got around to putting on the binding. Now it has it's binding and has been through the wash so it is all crinkly and ready to go to it's new home. I want to make a few bibs and burp cloths to go along with the new quilt.

The back is a soft pink with dark pink hearts all over it. The binding is the scraps from the front.

Yesterday's finishes

 

(back)

This is the rocket from the One Yard Wonders book.

(front)

It is a belated birthday present for my nephew Bryant. Happy Birthday Bryant!!


It was a quick and easy project. I only had to struggle a little bit. You stuff the fins (legs) and then sew them into the seams. Then you add the circle base. So you have these 3 stuffed legs smooshed inside and you're trying to sew a nice even circle. Didn't happen but it still came out nice. I don't know much use the pocket will be because I stuffed it real firm :)

I picked up the fabric at Walmart. It seems the people of Walmart heard the quilter's complaints and brought some fabric back. It is all pre-cuts but that is fine with me. This happened to be a 2 yard cut. They have all kinds of colors available. There is also layer cakes, charm squares, jelly rolls, and project kits. The prices aren't too bad and the quality feels OK. Will have to see after a few projects get washed a couple times.

 

I also finished off this table topper. It is part of the String Along challenge.  It's my first project of many I hope. I need to get these scraps under control.

I have this on our living room table. Since it is so colorful and scrappy, I'm hoping the kids and Hubby don't worry about "messing it up" like they have with the others. I keep telling them not to worry, I'll just make another one if one gets ruined. I know better than to put anything to fancy on the table. We use this table to eat dinner on (it lifts up--way cool in my opinion) since we turned our dining room into our daughter's bedroom.

Baking with Violet

Baking with Violet
Originally uploaded by rsislandcrafts

This is my June 2009 entry for ChristyNelson's craft challenge.

Violet loves to bake cakes. Since it is June she decided to make a wedding cake.

I used the box as the main form for the cake.

The toilet paper tube is the base of the round cake. I used the flower petals to line the cake plate.

The beads are used as a decoration on the cake and also as Violet's necklace.

I took the wire out of the ribbon and used it for the waistband and tie of the apron.

These were the supplies that were sent to us. At first I thought the toilet paper tube was there for shipping purposes but then I read it on the list of supplies.


I made a basic doll using a flower flannel that I had left over from my granddaughter's pj's. The purple and blue are from hand dyed sheets that I had left over. I used the beads as a pearl necklace 'cuz who doesn't do their baking wearing pearls?

I think the cake came out so cute :)